GETTING WHAT YOU ARE PAYING-TO-PLAY FOR

Do you want to make a room full of pay-to-play coaches uncomfortable? Bring up the concept of guaranteed playing time contracts.

The entire concept of guaranteed minimum game minutes, for both goalies and skaters, certainly rubs many coaches the wrong way. That’s always going to happen when one’s ego is kept in check by the wallet.

Many coaches argue that they would NEVER work under a contract that guaranteed a minimum amount of playing time. Many of those same coaches are notorious for having numerous healthy scratches in the cheap seats on game day. Meanwhile, there’s also a sizable number of players on the ice from higher levels of play.

So, what gives? It’s clear that the leagues are never going to be excited with anything that upsets the apple cart. But there is a group of professionals that should be willing to stand up for the players and that’s the advisors.

At the pay-to-play level, there is always more player stalls than there are players to fill them. That fact gives advisors leverage to orchestrate change. It’s very easy for us to avoid teams that don’t want to negotiate terms when there are so many others that are more than willing to do so.

Ironically enough, there are many advisors that refuse to take part in the negotiation of player/team agreements. If that’s the guy you hired, it’s time for a change. A good advisor and can also get the team fee (for skaters) lowered by as much as $3,000. Now, the player must agree to perform meaningful work in exchange for that discount, but it’s easy to get that done.

Players and families should also be very careful with any rush to re-sign with the current pay-to-play team for next season. Our advice is to NOT do that. Players born 2004, 2005 or 2006 have 100+ teams across Canada that are less expensive and often a better choice than pay-to-play here in the United States.

Navigating the path from youth to college hockey is never going to be easy. If you have questions, or just want to get a better understanding of how a good advisor can help, feel free to give us a call.